Health and Wellness
Six Reasons Online Nursing Programs Are So Popular
The pandemic has been a blow to the education sector. Students were confined within their homes, and the future looked bleak for some time. These students were waiting for their institutions to come up with a solution. Luckily it did not take much long for the institutions to respond to their problem and shift their entire system to an online mode.
The use of educational technology received a boost and provided a platform for learning and interaction for the students and mentors. Though online education was already taking place in the past, the pandemic boosted this mode of learning. In 2018, 34.7% of college students had enrolled in at least one online course. As 2020 turned, we saw an exponential surge in enrollment in online programs. Through November 2020, edX registered more than 93 million students. This number is incredible compared with 2019, as it showed a 161% increase in one year.
The online mode of education is not limited to one college or a certain category of institutions. Colleges across the board started offering online programs to keep their cycle going. Therefore, nursing had to adopt this trend as well. More and more accredited institutions target professionals with their flexible remote programs. Nurses who have been looking for an opportunity to upskill themselves are showing an immense interest and flocking to enroll in an RN-BSN online program. The time for this trend could not be any better, as the medical community feels pressured under the strain of the nursing shortage. Online education has become a convenient way for nurses to continue their education. Some more reasons why online nursing programs have become the go-to choice for nurses include:
- Lower cost of the degree
Cost is often a deciding factor when choosing a program in any field, let alone nursing. The cost of the program is not limited to the tuition fee only. There are myriad other costs, including accommodation costs, traveling expenses, and books and resources. When you are enrolled in an online program, the cost of the degree is low as no traveling is involved, and books and resources are available online. Students don’t have to bear other on-campus expenses such as food, photocopy, printing assignments, etc.
On the part of institutions, they can work with the least number of human resources since there is no need to maintain classroom infrastructure as in the case of traditional classes. There are also no administrative expenses such as grading papers and managing assignments. All this can happen through online education portals. These reductions in the cost translate into reducing the program’s cost, ultimately benefiting the students.
- The flexibility of the programs
Online education is not bound by space or time. There is no need to worry about the alarm going off or attending the class every morning. In fact, with online education, your classes are not restricted to one time of the day. You can take the lecture from wherever you are and whenever you want. You could be working in the hospital in the morning and taking your classes at night. Or, you could be working on your assignment during breaks. All this is possible when you enroll in an online nursing program. As a professional, you can coordinate your schedule according to your commitments at the workplace and manage both alongside. Above all, you can work when you feel the most productive. It could be early morning before going to work or at night when everyone sleeps, and there is no distraction.
- Manage the pace of your learning
When you are part of a traditional classroom, you are bound to match the pace of the rest of the class. Often people who outsmart others or perform better generally feel that they are going slow. On the contrary, those who have to juggle various duties want to keep it slow. An online mode fulfills the need of both of these groups. Professionals can manage the pace according to their workload. At the same time, those who want to outperform others can increase their learning speed. Instructors often spend unequal time on different topics. With an online program, you can replay the lectures and go through the concepts according to your understanding.
- Have your resources available to you all the time
Keeping books in physical form and carrying your notes everywhere may not look very attractive. In the case of online education, you have all your resources present in the cloud database, which you can access from anywhere. Having all your notes and books in an online database is more convenient and hassle-free. They are available to you 24/7, and you can access them from anywhere, provided that you have a good internet connection.
- One to one communication with the instructor
One of the selling points of online education is that you can interact with your instructor at a one-to-one level. Unlike traditional education, you are not part of a classroom setting where students need to raise their hands every time they ask a question. Often students shy away from asking a question, thinking about what others will think about their query. In online mode, you don’t have anyone to judge apart from your instructor, and being non-judgmental is an unwritten rule of their job. You can communicate with your instructor through email, message them through your phone or have a live zoom session. In any case, this will be your private communication with your teacher, where you can consult anything and everything that is boggling your mind.
- Learning self-discipline
No one sends you daily reminders of attending a class or preparing the lecture for the next day in online education. You have to do it all, even in the absence of these reminders. So, in a way, online education teaches you self-discipline and to be in control of your life. You have to set your schedule, be responsible for reading and preparing your assignments, and go through all the lectures. You will have to give away your sleep to get up in the morning or give up spending time with your family to do your homework at night. This is not just an exercise to develop you professionally; the goal is to make you a more responsible person.
Conclusion
Online education is becoming very popular these days. More students flock to online programs as they want to continue working alongside or taking care of their families or kids. Online education is more flexible and often has a better impact on your personality. Online education is especially preferable for nursing because they cannot leave their job to enroll in an on-campus program in the face of nurse shortages.